Has Tulsa King fallen off? After its first season, the crime drama created by Taylor Sheridan and starring Sylvester Stallone was labeled the next Sopranos. The show shot to the top of Paramount+’s streaming charts and garnered a large fanbase, with many praising the plot, fashion, and cinematography. Season 2 proved even better, with larger stakes for all characters as well as the introduction of new and exciting villains. However, many fans have been left disappointed by the third season.
The dip in form can be partly blamed on the absence of crime drama legend Terence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, and The Wolf of Wall Street), who was the chief writer for the first two seasons but had to step back to focus on FX’s upcoming biographical gangster series, Sammy the Bull. Will the Stallone-led show get better? There’s every reason to be hopeful. After all, there are numerous examples of great TV shows that had a bad season before stabilizing again. Fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, here are 8 major things wrong with season 3 of Tulsa King.
8
Dwight’s Personal Life Is Non-Existent
There is nothing much going on in Dwight’s personal life in season 3. Previously, we could be ushered into his home and get to interact with his loved ones. Nowadays, all he does is conduct business and plot against his enemies. Wouldn’t it be great to keep the human side of him? Dwight the friend, Dwight the father, Dwight the lover… and so on.
It’s nice to be treated to a sleek, limitless set of showdowns between a clever badass who spent a quarter-century behind bars and his cartoon foes, but Jack (Dwight) needs to play. At the moment, he is looking like a dull boy. In one of his rare intimate moments with Margaret, he makes the scene look even more awkward by telling her, “It’s time to get to… uh… business.” Then they switch off the lights. Business? Booooo! There are better ways to describe lovemaking, Mr. Manifredi.
7
Compelling Characters from Previous Seasons Have Been Neglected
Several of Tulsa King’s most compelling characters have gotten way less screen time in season 3. Dwight’s love interest, Margaret, is a great example. There’s no longer much focus on the genuine love between the two. Instead, Margaret is busy hanging out with Carl Thresher, who has also been relegated from fierce crime boss to an ever-smiling gubernatorial aspirant. Frank Grillo’s character, Bill Bevilaqua, hardly seems interested in the proceedings either.
The crime drama was whipping out excellent episodes like fastballs in season 2, and those three characters had a lot to do with it. In that era, where everyone was caught up in worshipful celebrations, Thresher had the kind of power Dwight would only dream of. Margaret was dishing out words of wisdom from her ranch while refusing to be intimidated by any man (where has the ranch disappeared to?). And Bevilaqua was the unreasonable gangster. Frank Grillo proved to us that he wasn’t just an underrated action star. He could sink himself into drama roles quite well. Now he is on the screen. And, does the Thresher-Margaret team-up even make narrative sense?
6
Dwight’s Crew Hasn’t Expanded Yet
It’s baffling how Dwight’s empire keeps growing, yet the size of his crew remains the same. That’s not what happens in the mafia or in any other criminal organization, right? Even worse, none of his few men are combat experts, yet they are always able to defend themselves from all manner of threats. At this point, Dwight should be commanding more than 100 men by now, not only because he can afford it but also because it is necessary. And we should be made aware of their existence, even if they don’t get to appear often on the screen.
A TV show doesn’t need to be accurate or logical to have a powerful allure for audiences who just want to immerse themselves in the fictional world it invokes. But television is somewhat of a triage in the 2020s. During the golden era, when there were only like five great dramas at a time, it was easy to catch up with everything. Now you can only watch the good and the badass. There’s no time for the ugly. When you have a gangster series with a thin main crew and plenty of plot army… it qualifies as ugly. Get more men, Dwight. You have the money.
5
Dunmire’s Feud with Dwight Isn’t Sensible
Robert Patrick has played many great villains over the years, and he is equally vicious in Tulsa King season 3. Regrettably, his feud with Dwight makes little sense. The two are primarily fighting over liquor, a business venture that would be more fitting for Prohibition Era gangsters. They also appear to harbor so much hatred towards each other without any major past grievances to back up the animosity.
Make no mistake. Dunmire is an interesting character. Like a Bond villain, he has a way of standing outside and commenting gleefully on his own perfidious acts. Ever calm, this vengeful lawbreaker makes bloody messes that he knows are only gratifying to him. He’s a theatrical monster, and Robert Patrick plays him with enthusiasm that he’s never shown before. From 1923 to Reacher and Peacemaker, the veteran actor has been on every TV show lately, but, in this particular project, he is let down by a poor script this time. Making Dunmire an old foe from Dwight’s prison days would have made more sense. At the moment, the hostility seems forced to allow a Patrick vs. Stallone showdown.
4
The Tone Has Morphed from Gritty to Cartoonish
There’s always room for humor and silliness in gangster TV shows. The Sopranos proved it. However, there is a thin line between wit and caricature. Season 3 has leaned heavily towards the latter. Dwight now feels like a sitcom mob boss. In one scene, he totally freaks out after getting trapped inside a self-driving car. The 90s-level gangster threats never end, either.
In its first two seasons, Tulsa King had a mordant wit: packed with quotable put-downs and solid discourse about the fuzzy line between legal and illegal endeavors. Now we feel like we are watching Stallone in his ‘90s comedy gangster movie, Oscar. Even Tyson, who was introduced into the show as a form of comic relief, has lost something, too — the natural Martin Lawrence-like charm he had. His jokes no longer have the emotionally plush and rounded softness. As it is, the show risks shrinking itself to a limited audience, primarily comedy fans who will no doubt take some pleasure from seeing gangsters make fools out of themselves.
3
The Season Is Too Slow, With Sudden Bursts of Violence
Events in many great gangster shows don’t unfold at the speed of Reacher, but a certain pace is required for things to be interesting. The past two seasons were okay, but the third is really dragging itself. There’s no sense of urgency in any episode. Worse still, action sequences tend to pop up out of nowhere.
On occasion, the season plays to genre strengths — creating a bold visual impact through imaginative set design and camera movements — but is hampered by a glaring Achilles heel: the pacing. Somewhere along the way, Taylor Sheridan’s conception became vague and then got pickled in excessive dialogue and scene-lingering. It would be great if these two elements were properly handled, but they aren’t. In an attempt to join the intimate personal drama and the violence, consistency vanishes. This is by no means the worst-paced TV chapter you’ll see, but the flaws are impossible to ignore. Stallone gives an intelligent and, for his age, physically dynamic performance, but the legend is forced to run when we expect him to walk and vice versa.
2
Dwight Has Become a Law Enforcement Pawn
Hanging out with the feds is never a good look in the mafia, yet Dwight keeps doing it without any major repercussions. Only Bevilaqua had the nerve to question him about it, but we never saw him follow up. Additionally, Agent Muso now dictates everything Dwight does, making the gangster appear weaker.
Dancing with the feds is a cardinal sin in the Cosa Nostra. No one is ever supposed to talk openly about “this thing of ours,” yet Dwight is somehow okay with the FBI guy knowing everything about him and his crew. What happened to omerta? The Tulsa crime boss never even cares about how the information leaked. Dwight is also happy to run and help whenever Dwight calls. Is this the same guy who did 25 years without flipping? It doesn’t look like it. And is he even part of “this thing of ours” anymore?
1
There Are Hardly Any Ordinary People in Sight
Tulsa King has become a Gangster Vs. Gangster affair. We rarely get to see any ordinary person who isn’t part of the feuding parties. No housekeepers, doctors, neighbors, or any other kind of everyday figures that exist in the normal world. The rest of society has been shut out to allow us to focus on the players. But is it a good thing?
A long time ago, creators made TV shows with people in them, lots of people. Then something unusual happened, and the people started to vanish. The bug has somehow caught our favorite show, too, in its third chapter. We understand that dealing with business setbacks and broken dreams, all of it stewing in a cauldron of ugly inter-faction conflict, can take a lot of screen time. But every good gangster series should be as much about the cruel rotisserie of the underworld as it is a dark observation of the people who are affected by crime. Show us John and Jane next door. Show us Dwight’s physician or something. As an old person who spent years in prison, he must have some underlying health conditions, right?
- Release Date
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November 13, 2022
- Network
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Paramount+
- Directors
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Allen Coulter, Benjamin Semanoff, David Semel, Guy Ferland, Joshua Marston, Kevin Dowling, Lodge Kerrigan, Jim McKay
- Writers
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Joseph Riccobene, David Flebotte, William Schmidt, Taylor Elmore, Tom Sierchio, Regina Corrado, Stephen Scaia, Terence Winter
